PintHead on the Road

I hate listening to Alex as much as anyone so I first have to thank him for taking this online and off the dinner table.

Second, I am sure that there is plenty of quality discussion to be had around the nectar of the gods in the Pacific Northwest so I will keep my input to the global wonder of beer. Fortunately or unfortunately I have to (get to) spend a bit of time outside the US, and being a beer fan, I am constantly checking out the local scene where ever I am. Sometimes that is awesome (Great British Beer festival last year - 700 real ales), sometimes pretty bleak (All of China - can you say Tsingtao or Heineken for two weeks straight) and sometimes surprising (great local lager in Indonesia).

The last weeks have found yours truly in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon where they have tons of Heineken (sense a trend in Asia), Tiger and San Miguel. The local beer that was all around was 333 and it did the trick. In general just dont expect to find Ales in Asia with the exception of a few places in Singapore and Hong Kong that cater to expats. More on that later.

At present I am in one of the great beer locals anywhere, London. What can you say, you cant swing a dead cat without hitting a great pub with great ales. 3 within 150 yards of the hotel (where you can get Heineken and Stella). Also, if you ever get a chance to hit the Great British ale festival, do. Overwhelming is an understatement.

One quick recommendation - The Churchill Arms. Picture above and link here http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=159. This place is awesome. Great beer and the best Thai food outside of Thailand.

Just past noon here in the UK and you know what that means? A very expensive pint of ale. 3 pounds a pint = $6. Oh well.

BT

Summer Brew

I promised in the first post that I would talk about my latest beer making effort. A group of us from the OSU MBA program had first started talking about getting together to brew a batch while studying for a final back in June and it only took us a month and a half to align our schedules. The recipe is kind of a hybrid of a steam ale recipe from "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" and a recipe I found on BeerRecipes.org. We're going for something a little lighter for those hot August nights, so we went with a light malt extract, some crystal malt and cascade hops (although I was hoping for hallertaur). It was my first venture to Corvallis Brewing Supply in our newest adopted hometown. I'm still pining for Home Fermenter Supply, but not enough to drive an hour to Eugene. The guys at Corvallis Brewing were very helpful and, by the way, they have a nice selection of hard to find beer and wine.

The night was not only going to be about beer making, but also sushi (note the tower of sushi in the picture). The beer making went off without a hitch, one of my cleanest efforts to date. And I'm proud to say that the beer is fermenting away happily in our spare bedroom-come-office. Stay tuned as we move on to bottling and then tasting (ETA August 25th-ish)

Cheers,

Alex

The First Pint

There are some out there who have been encouraging me to blog (and others who could really care less), but deep down I'm suspicious that they're really just tired of hearing me go on about topics they consider mundane and are just crossing their collective fingers that I will find an outlet that doesn't actually require them to sit across from me and feign interest for what, to them, must feel like an eternity. So, to those I present this blog. I thought the name would be a nice take off on "Zippy the Pinhead", but then I wasn't really sure why I would want to do that or how it would be relevant. Oh well, it's up and running now.

I hope this site will be a nice opportunity for people to talk about beer, wine or any other spirits. It will also act as a digital record for all of my and the other authors endeavors into the world of home brewing. In fact, see below for the latest effort (a group effort with Lucas, Debbi and Hannes).

So here goes. I can't promise to always (or ever) be entertaining, but I can promise to continue drinking beer.

Cheers,

Alex